


The Best Laid Plans

by rebelliousOracle



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Masturbation, Sexual Frustration, Shameless Smut, kink meme prompt, shower scene
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-27
Updated: 2014-01-27
Packaged: 2018-01-10 05:39:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1155759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelliousOracle/pseuds/rebelliousOracle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kink Meme fill asking for a frustrated F!Cousland trying to move things along in her relationship with Alistair and the schemes she has to lay in place to make it happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Rose by Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> Author Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. All character personalities and appearances belong solely to the owners of the Dragon Age trademark. This was written as a response to a Kink Meme prompt and originally posted to Fanfiction. This work is mine, I am porting it over.

Things were getting out of hand. They both knew it. Hell, the whole camp knew it too. But as much as Morrigan tormented Alistair about philandering Warden's and the dangers their affair would bring to both their party and to all of Fereldan, the actual relationship as a whole was falling a tad short of the passionate whirlwind Elissa's mother had described true love to be.

It wasn't Alistair's fault of course. He'd been raised to view the more intimate aspects of romance as something that should be saved for marriage, even if he didn't feel quite that strongly about saving himself. She understood understood the sentiment, with him being her first serious relationship, she'd never had the chance to "lick a lamppost in winter" either. In fact she'd nearly died of embarrassment after she'd drunk enough of some of Oghren's Dwarven ale to have that conversation with him. 

She would have never let Oghren talk her into touching the stuff in the first place if she hadn't been feeling sorry for herself about Alistair's obliviousness to all things romantic. After that she proceeded to have the most flirtatious conversation with Alistair and this time he actually caught onto the flirting and played along. It'd figure that she could only attract a guy's attention when she was as drunk as Oghren when he broke out the "special" whisky. She'd woken up the next morning with a pounding headache and a complete inability to look Alistair in the face for the next three days. 

Things had gotten much better since then with their relationship, so much so that not only was there a carefully pressed rose hidden in her journal beneath her pillow, the first gift he'd ever given her, but there was also the lingering taste of their first kiss on her lips, constantly reminding her of that perfect moment. The one moment of her life where everything had felt so right. Even with the world falling down around them it was what made her decide that Alistair was who she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, no matter the cost.

Everyone had split up into teams of two at the edge of the Brecilian Forest to maximize their ground coverage in their search for the Dalish camp. Leliana had taken control of the sorting of the groups to maximize everyone’s safety and had paired Elissa with Alistair with a conspiratorial wink at her and a nudge from Zevran. Despite the helpfulness from her friends, who honestly meant well, in the most vindictive of ways, the first couple of hours of their search was spent in awkward silence. All the same it was lucky that they were alone in a way, because their bashful glances and flushed faces would have made even Leliana sick. 

It didn't take long for Elissa to notice the long stemmed rose that Alistair was toying with in his hands, the petals just beginning to wilt and peel back from the center bud, but it took him quite a while to bring himself to speak up about it. They'd stopped to set up their tents and sleeping rolls for the night when he finally spoke. 

"Elissa, here." He started hesitantly before holding the rose out to her, "Look at this. Do you know what this is?" He asked her quietly. 

A smile tugged at the edges of her lips and she had to bite her lip to keep from grinning. If she was awkward and clumsy about her affections, he was a circus bear in a tutu trying to balance atop a unicycle. "Your new weapon of choice?" She questioned with an innocent bat of her eyes and a unbelievable urge to tease him relentlessly. They'd recently moved into more flirtatious conversations after the Oghren ale incident and it had awoken the urge in her to see more of his blushes and embarrassed expressions. An urge that she was more than willing to satiate. 

Ever the good sport about being teased, he was quick to roll his eyes and counter her snarky remark with one of his own. "Yes, that's right." He exclaimed humorously, "Watch as I thrash our enemies with the mighty power of floral arrangements. Feel my thorns, darkspawn!" She couldn't keep her giggle in this time and pleased with her smile he continued. "I will overpower you with my rosy scent!" By now she was finding it hard to breathe through her laughter and he was chuckling along side her. It felt incredible after the long embarrassing silence of the day to relax and just enjoy their time together.

When they finally composed themselves to continue Alistair sighed and shrugged with a gentle smile, "Or, you know, it could just be a rose? I know that's pretty dull in comparison." Elissa shook her head and smiled "Sentiment can be a pretty powerful weapon." After all, I'm falling for it, she finished the thought in her head with an accompanying blush.

"Is it that easy to see right through me?" He replied in sarcastic shock, "Eh, I guess I shouldn't be surprised." He shrugged again acceptingly before continuing with his story. "I picked it in Lothering. I remember thinking, 'How could something so beautiful exist in a place with so much despair and ugliness?'" His face twisted in pain momentarily and Elissa hesitantly placed her hand on his arm, a sympathetic twinge as she remembered the young boy from Lothering who'd told her that she reminded him of his mother who was now likely lost to the darkspawn as well. So many people that they couldn't save, innocents whose only fault was in not being able to run fast enough to escape the hoard. 

He took a deep breath and covered her hand with his own, "I probably should have left it alone, but I couldn't. The darkspawn would come and their taint would just destroy it." He paused again, as if not quite sure how to word his thoughts and feelings before simply settling on, "So I've had it ever since..."

The emotion behind his words hit her like a sack of bricks, the pain that he had felt, being unable to rescue anything more than a simple rose. Elissa had overheard him discussing his regrets with Leliana earlier but the intimacy of them being alone and him baring his feelings to her... It was as if she had suddenly swallowed a large dry lump and a familiar burning sensation set in behind her nose, as if tears were about to form. She quickly blinked them back and managed to choke out a dry, "That's a nice sentiment."

He looked at her, with his wide, honest eyes, more open than she'd ever seen them before, and began again, more quietly than ever, though his voice grew stronger with each word. "I thought that I might... give it to you actually. In a lot of ways," A scarlet blush flamed across his cheeks till even his ears were red with the rush of blood to his face and he looked down, his words lacking the usual shield of humour and light hearted playfulness as he continued, "I think the same thing when I look at you."

Elissa couldn't tell exactly what it was that her body did in response to his words because for that moment all she felt was everything and nothing, billions of minute contradictions that had her simultaneously frozen in shock and on fire with a heat she didn't quite understand. Her stomach plummeted and her heart fluttered in her throat, everything was altogether too quiet and too loud, as though the entire forest was waiting on a bated breath for her response, her entire body tingled in the same way it did before a large battle but was as still as if she were home with her bow in hand, drawn back with an arrow, caught in that moment just before the release where her heart beat seemed to stretch on into eternity. She cleared her throat and "Alistair..." She stumbled a light stutter giving voice to her shock, "I... I don't know what to say."

"I guess it's a bit silly, isn't it?" He seemed mortified, interpreting her shock and speechlessness as anger and condescension instead of the unbearable happiness that it actually was, " I just thought," He rushed on, "Here I am doing all this complaining, and Elissa, you haven't exactly been having a good time of it yourself. You've had none of the good experience of being a Grey Warden since your Joining." He looked pained for a moment, and she realized that this time, his pain was for her. She would never get the same experience that he had as a Grey Warden because even if she did survive the blight, it was more likely than not that they would spend the rest of their lives simply struggling to rebuild the order. "Not a word of thanks or congratulations." He continued, "It's all been death and fighting and tragedy." 

He took her hand, still resting on his arm and opened it, grasping it tightly for one moment with a look of adoration and kindness that melted her heart before he placed the rose in her hand and carefully curled her fingers around it. Her mind vaguely registered that he'd taken the care to cut the thorns off of the stem as he went on hesitantly. "I thought maybe I could say something. Tell you what a rare and wonderful thing you are to find amidst all this darkness." She didn't realize that she was crying until Alistair's hands cupped her cheeks and his thumbs wiped the fresh tears away with a gentleness that nearly caused her to cry even harder. Instead she blinked back her tears and hiccuped away a sob before looking up into his anxious eyes and rubbing her tears away completely on the back of her free hand with a watery laugh. "I feel the same way about you Alistair."

"Oh." He looked shocked for a moment then a flush of pleasure spread across his face, "I'm, uh, I'm glad you like it. Now..." And almost instantly his shield of humor was back up, "If we could move right past this awkward, embarrassing stage, and get right to the steamy bits, I'd appreciate it." She blushed, even though she knew he was just bluffing and laughed, blinking up at him she could tell that he was pleased she had stopped crying, knowing him her tears were like a loud noise to a rabbit, something he feared but had no idea what to do about. Through her chuckles she replied, "Sounds good." An offhand grin spreading across her face, "Off with the armor, then."

He burst out laughing, "Bluff called! Damn!" The familiar tomato red blush was back, much to her pleasure, "You saw right through me!" She hid her pleased smirk behind her hands, unable to believe how innocent he could seem when he was embarrassed. The conversation quickly faded from there into a backdrop of casual teasing and friendly conversation and then gradually faded away as they ate dinner. It wasn't until much later that Alistair spoke up again, his face a strange mixture of emotions that seemed to lend themselves to some serious thought.

He'd moved around the campfire so that he was sitting next to Elissa in front of her tent, his eyes meeting hers without hesitation. "So all this time we've spent together..." He began thoughtfully, "You know: the tragedy, the brushes with death, the constant battles with the whole Blight looming over us..." He stopped to chuckle appreciatively at the sheer weight of what the past few months had put them through. "Will you miss it once it's over?"

Elissa bit her lip, her eyes downcast as she considered his words, when she saw the head of the rose, poking from the pages of her journal in her lap her jaw set in a stubborn line. She wouldn't leave him after this, not like this."There will always be more battles to fight somewhere." She said firmly, not wanting to believe that their troop could fall apart so easily just because the Blight was over. Alistair frowned and it was clear that he didn't hold the same steadfast faith as he replied desolately, "But that doesn't mean we would necessarily be fighting them together." She frowned and opened her mouth to counter him but he placed his fingers over her lips and continued, "I know it... might sound strange, considering we haven't known each other for very long, but I've come to... care for you. A great deal."

Elissa's heart stopped, but he showed no signs of hesitation and she was left in shock and a numb warmth as he went on. "I think maybe it's because we've gone through so much together, I don't know. Or maybe I'm imagining it. Maybe I'm fooling myself." He paused and his fingers fell from her lips, "Am I? Fooling myself?" He asked her anxiously, "Or do you think you might ever... feel the same way about me?"

Her heart racing faster than she ever thought possible, the words were out before she could stop them, "I don't know." She was shocked by the truth behind them, she was falling for him, but did she love him? Was this just because they were the last two Grey Wardens in Fereldan? Or was it just the weight of the Blight and the constant fear of death that was forcing them into each others arms for comfort? How could she tell? "It's..." She paused, not wanting to hurt him and simply said, "It's too soon to say."

Seeing the hesitation in her eyes seemed to harden something in Alistair and his hand cupped her cheek, "Well, is it..." He leaned forward, his eyes closing and his head tilting, "Too soon for this?" Unable to stop herself, or think of what the consequences were for once in her life, she simply gripped the cloth undershirt that he wore under his armor and met his lips halfway. All at once her world exploded. It was everything she had ever read in books. From the shock of his warm skin against hers to the rough scratching of his perpetual stubble against her chin. 

His rough lips parted against her own and she took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, her arms sliding up around his neck and pulling him closer. He embraced her willingly and in that moment if there was one ultimatum of which she was certain it was that she never wanted it to end. That kiss. Their moment alone in the forest, when everything seemed perfect and right. This relationship, hesitant, uncertain and sprung from the strangest of sources, was something she didn't want to surrender. Unfortunately, like all moments, it had to end, and as Alistair drew back with a cheesy grin and a hesitant, "Wow... Uh, so... Too soon?" He looked hopeful but worried that he had moved too soon, and they blushed simultaneously as they realized what had just happened. 

But Elissa grinned impishly through her chagrin and replied, "I don't know... I need more testing to be sure." 

He blinked in shock but his lip twitched in sheepish amusement. "Well, uh, I'll have to arrange that, then, won't I?" His arms encircled her waist and drew her closer until her head was resting comfortably against his chest. He gazed down at her appreciatively as she hid her face in the fold of his undershirt, "Maker's breath but you're beautiful." She snorted and thumped his chest with her hand and he chuckled. "I am a lucky man." They spent the rest of the evening in comfortable silence before returning to their tents for the night.

The next night they rendezvoused with the others, a distinct glow about them that had Leliana and Zevran snickering in pleasure, despite the truth being so much less than they hoped. Nearly two months had passed with scarce but a few snatched kisses and chaste touches to reassure Elissa that that night had not been just a dream. In fact the progress she had made was so abysmal that Morrigan was taking bets on how much longer the relationship would last, much to Alistair's ire. 

She didn't want to force him to move forward, because she knew they both had reason for reservation, especially after she learned the truth of his birth, something that had been hard for her to understand. Now not only were they Grey Wardens they were also the last of the Couslands and Theirins respectively. It considerably complicated their relationship, even if they both felt even more strongly about the other, there was no denying that after the Blight they would both have responsibilities, and who knew where fate would take them.

All the same, she could take the stalemate no longer. Somebody had to cave, and it couldn't be her. If she came on to strongly she could ruin everything. Instead, she'd take a more passively aggressive stance about the matter and lure him into it. And hopefully, something could finally move.


	2. A Massage to get the Message Across

Most people wouldn’t find a battlefield to be particularly romantic, and when you’re covered in the gore of fallen darkspawn the few left would be more inclined to vomiting than to casting their significant other doe eyes. So it’s easily apparent that there is much to be said about Alistair’s falling for it. 

They’d been on the road from Denerim in search of the urn of Sacred Ashes when a particularly large group of darkspawn ambushed them. They’d stopped shortly afterwards for Wynne to heal everyone and for the group to catch their breath. The battle had been been long fought and hard won and everyone was worn out. 

Of course that would only serve to aid Elissa’s plans. She was tired of waiting and being patient. She’d let him think this all was his idea when she was done, but if she truly left it up to Alistair, nothing would ever happen and she’d die an old maid. She stripped off the chain mail and rolled her shoulders, a sickening crack jarred her bones as everything that could pop, did. She groaned and slouched forward, the blood smeared cloth of her tunic rough against her shoulders. “Alistair...” She called pitifully as Dog, her aptly named Mabari, licked at her fingers with a sympathetic whimper before trotting off to place another darkspawn limb in Morrigan’s bag.

At her side in a flash the concerned Alistair instantly began to inspect her, worried at the the weakness of her voice. “What’s wrong, love?” He asked frantically, hands hovering over her as if afraid even a touch would break her. Elissa almost felt sorry for complaining, after all, she wasn’t the one running around in the heavy silver and cloth of a templar. But the guilt was fleeting when she thought about how this would benefit them both.

“Ugh,” She grumbled, “I’m sore all over, everything hurts and this is the second time today we had to stop to fight these stupid things off.” She glanced up at him, her most pitiable expression in place. She was a master of the puppy eyes, and having a Mabari for a teacher in this regard certainly didn’t hurt her. This face had once brought her father to his knees trying to please her when she was younger. Granted she was a little rusty but Alistair didn’t exactly have her fathers nerves of steel when it came to saying no to her either. As expected he melted like putty in her hands.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” He begged anxiously, his hands still hovering a maddening few inches from her skin. "I can go get Wynne, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to heal you up, being our fearless leader and all." It was almost reassuring that he was worried enough to joke about it. She rolled her eyes and grabbed his wrist, stilling him instantly and she was surprised at how warm he was beneath the armor. Elissa was having trouble finding his fussing to be anything less than endearing.

"Calm down Alistair." She chuckled but had to bite back another groan as the tensing of her side brought a new degree of ache. Her next words came out in a quick breath as her teeth fought to clench against the pain. "You and I both know that Wynne can only heal surface wounds, not the associated pain." He bit his lip as though trying to keep himself from arguing, or perhaps going to get Wynne anyway. "I was just wondering if you'd give me a backrub?" She deliberately phrased the statement in a way that made it both direct and questioning at the same time. He stopped for a moment, a confused expression flitting across his features before the grand 'A ha!' moment. 

He stammered for a moment before finally getting his consent out through his self-consciousness. "I've never exactly given anyone a back rub before, so tell me if I do anything wrong or hurt you at all." He seemed to think of her as delicate ever since they clarified their relationship and was constantly jumping to protect her in any way he could. It would have annoyed her if he didn't seem so genuinely sincere about it. It was like an old fashioned knight, back when they actually still cared about the nonsense code of chivalry and protecting damsels.

Like every other of Alistair's quirk, particularly his fixation on cheese, it only seemed to add to his endearing qualities. After she finally promised that not only would he not be able to hurt her, if he somehow did, she would be quick to tell him, he went to stand behind her as she sat down on a nearby tree stump. She slumped forward, pulling her long hair out of the leather tie and running her fingers through it to loosen it. Alistair carefully tilted her head downward and began to knead gently at the dip between Elissa's neck and shoulders, taking her soft sigh as one of appreciation he began to rub small concentric circles along the length of her neck while continuing his machinations at the crook of her neck.

Stretching herself out to relieve some of the tension in her taut muscles she groaned her back arching up into his touch even as he tried to pull away in panic. "What's wrong?" Alistair exclaimed, "Did I hurt you?" She chuckled in response, trying, and failing, not to roll her eyes. "Alistair, I swear I'm not hurt. Relax, how am I supposed to unwind when you're so jittery. Trust me in trusting you. You won't hurt me, in fact, you were going really slowly. You can go a little bit faster."

Unfortunately the innuendo went right over his head, as she thought it might, but the pep talk was enough to get the point across. She settled back down and kept herself as quiet as possible as Alistair resumed the massage with renewed vigor. As his strong hands worked their way down her back, stopping at each of the tense knots to patiently work them out of existence Elissa felt herself relaxing more and more, despite the chaos of their surrounding and the situation they had just escaped from, Alistair was surprisingly good at this and his presence was incredibly comforting.

Deciding to really kick her plan into action she began letting small moans and noises of pleasure escape her lips as each kink, knot and strained muscle were rubbed into oblivion. Alistair’s hands began to shake with restrained tension somewhere around when she began to sprinkle her moans with “Oh yes”, “Harder Alistair,” and “Please don’t stop.” 

She could tell she was making an impact because Leliana and Zevran stopped dead staring at her in complete and total shock until she sent them a playful wink as she let out a particularly jarring moan that carried over to where Morrigan was faking sickness in an effort to display her disgust with the scene. Receiving the message loud and clear the other two rogues absconded from the camp, into the tree line of the forest, though the cover did not fully disguise their echoing laughs. Wynne merely chuckled and went back to mending yet another of Alistair's torn shirts and Oghren was, as per the norm to drunk to give two elven coins one way or the other.

Elissa peeked up at her fumbling templar who was flushed a reddish violet to put the robes of his templar armor to shame. He was visibly shaking and it was fairly clear he had a few ideas of his own about her little show. Slowly, and regretfully, she let her moans die down and into soft hums of approval. His hands dropped from her back and she straightened up, stretching her arms up and back, and leaning back simultaneously to prevent Alistair's escape as she rested her shoulders against his stomach. She couldn't feel anything interesting through the hard planes of his armor but she glanced up into his eyes with a grateful smile. 

She hopped off the stump and he near tackled her, wrapping one arm around her waist and locking his lips with hers. She stopped for a moment, completely amazed that her plan was working so well before encircling his neck with her arms while he ran his free hand through her hair and down her cheek in the most gentle of touches. She reciprocated his sudden enthusiasm and then added a bit of her own to the mix. Sucking his lower lip into her mouth she nibbled on it to beg entry and he happily allowed it and her tongue delved in, wrestling briefly with his tongue before Alistair submissively consented to being led in this aspect of their relationship as well.

The resulting instructional course was fiery and passionate, and had it not been for a convenient tree for Elissa to press him against, it was likely that she would have backed him straight into the row of tents for the camp. But, there was no way everything could or would happen this way. It was entirely to unromantic, passionate yes, but if they gave themselves to each other this way she'd regret it and he'd resent it. So she broke the kiss and backed off with a coy smile, Alistair's hand's reaching after her and a protest on his lips that died as she melted into the shadows silently, a trick Zevran had taught her. 

"Aw come on Elissa!" Alistair called after her as she fled the scene gleefully, "You know that's not fair." He was pouting when they encountered each other in camp later that night, but Elissa could tell it stemmed more from frustration at her leaving him hanging so quickly than anything else and that suited her purposes quite nicely. She'd drive him crazy in all the best ways and then finally hand the reins over to him for control.


	3. Only Idiots Hide in the Shower

There was something to be said about the simple pleasures in life that were long missed on the road. Alistair knew that Elissa had lived a comfortable life before the Blight and Loghain’s rebellion had torn her family from her. She had wanted for nothing and likely would have gone on to wed a waffle-brained nobleman and sired a couple of children who would have lived an equally comfortable life. As much as Morrigan chastised him and accused him of idiocy, he knew that much. He also knew that she would have hated it. She was too fiery, too full of life and vivacity to ever be truly fulfilled by such a life. She had a spark of destiny about her that caused others around her to pale in comparison. 

He wasn’t the only one who saw it either. She had charmed her way into the hearts of every member of camp. After making short work of his heart, all the others would fall before her as well. Even Morrigan, the infamously bitter shrew, had taken her turn to threaten Alistair should he dare break Elissa’s heart. All the same here he was out in the snow covered forest pondering just how in the world could he make her happy when all he had to offer her was his love and Duncan’s shield on his back, and even that had been a present from her in the first place. He had to at least be able to present her with some of the luxuries that she had been used to before, not the sour meat and cold lake baths that were the norm upon the open roads. 

He kicked at the snow covered ground petulantly, glaring at it as though it were the father he’d never known but who had left him titleless and without a penny to his name. He glanced up as the burning smell of sulfur tickled his nose, pulling him from his sulking reverie. Furrowing his brow he started forward again, drawing his sword and crouching low. The last time he had caught the scent of sulfur in the air a dragon had descended on them and nearly killed him. 

As he proceeded through the forest the snow that had previously blanketed the ground gave way to billowing folds of steam that enveloped his form and all but drenched him with the heavy moisture. The muddled scent of other heavy minerals joined with the sulfur as the trees opened up and the source of the scent became clear. ‘A hot spring?’ Alistair wondered to himself, a grin tweaking at the edges of his lips. This was perfect! If not a permanent solution, he could at least take the opportunity this provided and spoil Elissa a bit. The last time she had had a hot bath must have been nearly two months ago now in Orzammar where the ever present lava warmed the water that seeped down from the snowfall.

Scanning the surrounding he noted several distinct springs, closed off partially from each others by large humidity damped boulders. They each varied in heat, judging from the amount of steam that billowed from their surfaces and the one closest to him appeared to be around the middle in temperature. Removing his gauntlet he dipped his bare hand carefully into the water, hesitant against a scalding wound that little could be done to relieve. Luckily, his hesitation was unnecessary because while hot, the water was more than tolerable on the skin and could quickly be adjusted to. Excited by his discovery, he hurried back to the others like a puppy eager to please his master. 

It seemed everyone was bolstered by the discovery of the spring. Not only was the water fresh and clean, there was a nearby area, just a short ways off into the woods, where the steam had kept the ground warm and only slightly damp from melted snow, that would be the perfect camping spot. It was still rather early in the evening so they set up the tents together before the women claimed the first bath, and Elissa, who had notoriously bad luck when it came to drawing the lots for watch duty, got the first watch. Of course that left the men to prepare dinner unattended. After much experimentation they had some sort of meat and cheese stew brewing above the fire and plenty of ale cracked open. Almost an hour later Alistair took the chance to relieve Elissa of her guard duty, with the majority of the camp falling over drunk it was her best chance to go enjoy herself without him having to fight off Zevran from his rather frequent attempts at peeping.

She thanked him with a quick kiss on the cheek and hurried off to the springs, shedding armor and weapons in a unceremonious pile as she went. Unburdened she took a brief running start and all but cannonballed into the largest spring. An echoing splash and peals of breathless laughter drifted back towards Alistair who had found a comfortable spot atop a large tree stump. 

The corners of his mouth tugged up in silent response, glad that in some small way he was the cause of the ecstatic laughter. Relaxing slightly he closed his eyes, hand on his sword hilt, and basked in the steamy coolness of the surrounding forest. They hadn’t seen even a trace of the blight for days. Ever since entering the mountains, to be honest, and the only dangers they had to worry about for the moment were the odd bandits who were either too stupid to notice their weapons or foolhardy enough to believe they couldn’t wield them.

A rustle in the nearby underbrush roused him from his idle musings. He slid to his feet, almost quiet enough to put Leliana to shame now that he had shed his bulkier armor for the night. One hand on the hilt of his broadsword he crept forward, sidling through the bushes in pursuit of the noise, which had steadily grown louder. He rounded the corner of a small outcropping of rocks and came face to face with his quarry. 

The tension vanished from him instantly as the fox looked up at him startled, his own prey, an overgrown hare whose legs were still thumping at him furiously, dangling from his mouth. A whirl of red and brown and the fox disappeared almost as quickly as he had came, terrified, and wisely so, of the much larger human who smelled of iron and rotten meat.

Alistair stared, dumbfounded, at the place where the fox’s tail had vanished into the forest and then broke out in shocked laughter, embarrassed at his own jumpiness. He hadn’t been unreasonably worried, but by the time this war was through he’d be seeing darkspawn in his own shadow. He drew his hand over his face and tried to compose himself, his sheepish grin wasn’t exactly the most noble of Grey Warden expressions in the face of a potential threat. Shaking his head numbly he went to turn back towards camp when a flicker of light caught in the corner of his eye.

He should’ve known. Should have gone straight back to camp. As if the rushing sound of the water falling against the rocks, the odd green flickering of a witch light, or the direction that the following the fox had taken him in weren’t enough clues. But he was already on edge from his first close encounter with the wilderness for the night, and his curiosity had been piqued. He pushed his way between the growth of the trees and the rock face. The overgrowth in the forest around him had muffled the sound of the waterfall, made it seem farther away than it had been, when in reality it had been just around the corner. A careless pile of clothes and armor laid at the ground near his feet and light humming that had previously been hidden by the sound of the water reached his ears. The clearing he had entered was lit by witchlights, enchanted early on in their journey by Morrigan as flickering green flames that emitted no heat and that could be stored safely in a crystal jar. They’d been so useful that almost everyone kept a couple of the crystals on them at all times. One floated in the pool of water before him and the others hung from branches. It was pretty clear that Elissa had raided everyone’s in an effort to have maximum illumination for her bath. 

All this was background acknowledgements by Alistair’s mind at this point however, as the entirety of his attention had been caught by the presence in front of him, still unaware of his gaze, thank Andraste, or he’d have hell to pay surely. Elissa had turned away to step under the small waterfall, her usually sharp senses dulled by the fall of the heated water against her upturned face. He couldn’t help but stare.

His eyes followed the curve of her face, down the length of her long neck and past the tumbling ebony hair that fell, unbound, across her shoulders and clung to the small of her back. The slender curve of her waist gave way to the curve of her ass and powerful thighs. The leather bands strapped to her thighs that held a wicked dagger to both leg well in the reach of her hands had him gulping for air. 

She half turned and he thought he’d surely meet his end on one of her blades as her eyes fluttered and he was sure that he had been seen, even as his eyes greedily glanced once more down her form, her turn having revealed more to his gaze. From her small shoulders that carried the weight of their kingdom so easily to her breasts, where he was especially inclined to linger, fueling forth a fantasy where this had all been planned and he had known she’d be here, as ridiculous as that was.

But her eyes drifted closed in rapture and she meticulously resumed scrubbing herself with a ragged washcloth, turning away from his gaze with a small smile that he attributed to the rare bliss of a warm bath. In the mean time he decided to take his chance to leave, his every movement sounding too loud and each second stretching on into an infinite length where the love of his life could turn and kill him quite easily.

When he finally made it back to his stump he felt like he had just run a marathon for the King in full Templar armor. As he set himself down and tried to breath he finally became aware of an uncomfortable stiffness in his breeches. He cursed beneath his breath and desperately tried to calm himself down with thoughts of Oghren on a bad liquor day, Darkspawn making out with Zevran, and even the disgusting images of Morrigan halfway transformed into a giant spider. 

Yet with each horrifying thought, two more quickly flashed into place now that he was free of the imminent death threat and had a chance to ruminate on what he had seen. Glimpses of mocha colored skin, glinting golden under the harsh witchlights and soaked with water that ran in trickling paths that he wanted to follow with his tongue, and what in Andraste’s name had gotten into him?! This was Elissa, for the Gods’ sakes! He had no right to think of her this way, even if they both loved each other, she was a Noble and he, for all his father’s blood, was a commoner who had been lucky enough to become a Gray Warden. He wouldn’t be any good for her, she deserved a life of luxury and a husband who would live a long enough life to spend it all with her. And yet for all his reasoning, the sight of her in utter rapture with her hair down and her body arching in the most appealing of ways was driving him mad and each passing thought only served to make him stiffer and drive him even crazier.

It was like that blasted massage all over again, but ten times as worse because now he could imagine her beneath him, making those noises as he brought her to pleasure as many times as she deserved and more. And by Andraste’s tits if she wasn’t gorgeous and the thought of her beneath him like that didn’t almost finish him… He groaned and dragged his hand down his face, well aware of the fact that his little problem wouldn’t be going away, and unless he was willing to shovel snow down his breeches there wasn’t exactly a cold shower anywhere nearby. As sure as the maker made him, he did not want his rather lethal beauty discovering what a terrible peeping tom he was. Even if it had only been a few moments it was well aware to anyone who saw him right now that he’d looked his fill and enjoyed every second. 

He shifted uncomfortably, guilt washing over him. How could he even think to leave his post and put everyone in danger just for the chance to relieve himself? And yet it became more appealing with each moment that he paced indecisively. He stopped as once again the stiffness twitched, aching for his attention painfully. He had to bite his lip from shouting out a curse upon the maker as he threw up his hands in defeat. ‘I’ll just have to make this quick.’ He promised himself, not that it would be difficult with the image of his lover’s bare form searing behind his eyelids. From the distance a pair of devious eyes watched him, safely secluded in the shadows, as he moved away from the camp. 

A few steps led him farther into the forest from their camp, into a small, secluded space between a few trees, that had been all but hidden from where he had stood previously. He leaned against the largest of the trees, his back to the camp, and wiped his brow nervously. He was well acquainted with himself, as any grown man should be, but he’d kept those particular meetings to his rooms with the doors firmly locked. Never had there been such a risk of discovery, and yet strangely that thought only seemed to make him even harder, were that even possible.

Shutting his eyes he reached into his pants, pulling them down just enough to release his dick, which sprung to attention and ached in the cold air. Deciding that he should just finish himself off quickly and then go back to pretending he had seen nothing, he wrapped his hand around himself and breathed in. Behind his closed eyes he could see the scene as fresh as day, but a few things had changed. She was turned towards him fully, beckoning him closer. Water still glistened on her skin but she had stepped out from beneath the waterfall and steam rose from her skin in delicate tendrils that caressed her form.

Grunting lightly, Alistair slowly began to work his hand, pumping his erection with a firm grip as he imagined wrapping an arm around her petite waist while the other palmed one of her full breasts, toying with her nipple which was already hard from the cold and kissing the side of her neck hungrily. Her hands ran down his bare chest, playing with the small trail of blonde hair that ran from his navel down until it was her hands on his cock.

Forgetting himself he moaned, biting his lip till he was sure it would bleed. He leaned forward placing a hand on the tree opposite him as he began stroking himself faster. The image of her in the spring resumed. He backed her against the wall till they were directly under the waterfall, the heated water barely finding room to run between their clinging forms. He nipped lightly at her neck and she breathed into his air a soft gasp and exhaled, his name on her lips. His hand that had wrapped her tightly against his form began to wander down her back, kneading and squeezing once it landed on her ass. She moaned softly her fingers tightening around his girth.

"Elissa..." Alistair breathed as he tensed up, his breath coming in shuddering gasps. How could just a fantasy in his head bring about such a strong reaction from his body? He wondered upon this thought briefly before the vision exploded behind his eyes into a blinding white glow and he came hard across his hand a choking moan escaping from his lips. The next minute or so he spent just trying to catch his breath as he leaned back on the trunk of the tree, absentmindedly wiping his hand off on its rough bark.

When he had finally relaxed and his breathing had slowed he pulled his pants back up and wiped his sleeve across his face. "Maker's breath..." He mumbled as he adjusted himself and tried to fix his appearance to something that would at least past for a level of haggardness that was normal enough for life on the road. He was sure that his torture was far from over and he'd probably never get that particular image out of his head but at least the imminent threat of discovery had been resolved.

Stumbling slightly from his hiding place, drunk on his sated sex, he resumed his post by the camp. His fears appeared meaningless because from what he could see everyone was passed out save Wynne who was knitting what appeared to be a holy rag from a distance. 

"Alistair?" A light voice called behind him, slightly breathless, and for a second he was sure he was still fantasizing because everything about her voice calling his name had sounded exactly the same and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Turning upon her with wide-eyes he flinched, of course she would be leaving the bath.

"Are you all right?" She asked fretfully, upon seeing his pale face. "I thought I heard groaning? Did you get hurt?" She hovered over him worriedly. He smiled in relief, "Oh no, love." He assured her quickly, "I just cracked my back when I was stretching. It hurt a bit but I'll be fine!" She smiled, a knowing twinkle of mischief in her eyes, "Is that so?" she asked with a sympathetic grimace. "Maybe I'll have to give you a massage later?" She offered lightly before walking past him towards the camp, leaving him to watch her retreating form with a confused expression and a spreading blush at the thought of what she could have meant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler. She so knew he was watching.


End file.
